Is toddler's diet ok?

[Cosyanddozy]

Toddler is 2 years 3 months. He's not the best eater in the world but I think he's not the worst by far. He goes through phases of not eating very much and then phases of eating lots. He looks well fed and healthy and I'm not really worried but wanted some opinions on his diet in terms of variety and vitamins. I do also give him multivitamin drops daily.

This is a list of everything he eats at the moment. Every day is just a rotation of these same foods:

Porridge made with chia seeds and whole milk
Cheerios or rice crispies with whole milk
French toast with honey
Pancakes with honey
Croissants
Toast and butter
Peanut butter sandwiches
Haggis
Black pudding
Lorne sausage
Cocktail sausages
Crackers/breadsticks/oatcakes
Humous
Chicken soup
Tomato soup
Mushroom soup
Fish fingers
Chicken nuggets
Potato alphabet letters
Sweet potato fries
Yoghurts (any kind, always with no sugar or sweeteners)
Cheddar/feta/halloumi cheese
Bananas
Strawberries
Grapes
Satsumas

That's the entire menu and it's been the same for quite a while now. He will eat everything listed above enthusiastically. He eats no vegetables except for in soup. He used to like sweetcorn or corn on the cob but won't touch them anymore. I still serve various veg on his plate with his fish fingers or whatever he's having but it's never eaten and we don't try to cajole him or negotiate with him about it.

I feel like there's enough of a balance in what he's eating that he'll be fine even if it takes a long time for him to expand his list of accepted foods. Am I being too relaxed about it?

We don't force him to eat anything, we just put his plate down and say "there you go". Tonight we had a roast dinner and he ate none of it (predictably) so he had toast, strawberries and a yoghurt. Often I'll put what we're having with something I know he will eat but tonight I just couldn't be bothered as I was already cooking so much food. ^
^
Oh and, of course, the above list is not entirely exhaustive. He will eat ice cream or chocolate cake if it were to be put in front of him

OP, I'd be chuffed if my child ate that list. Sounds amazing for such a young age.

Yeah he'll survive on that just fine. At least he's getting proteins, fruits, dairies and some veg in soup form.

I feel a bit daft now! It looks a long list written out but I suppose I'm just tired of rotating the same things all the time. We're surrounded by friends who have children of a similar age who would have got stuck in to tonight's roast dinner or at least some of it.

Just need to roll with it and be glad of the things he does eat I suppose.

Thanks, this was my thinking that it hits all the food groups. Would love more veg, but at least it's in soup.

I didn't mean to make you feel daft. Keep doing what you're doing, he has a great diet and you sound like a great mum for caring so much.

I sometimes feel the same - my son is the same age as yours. But maybe its because we are continuously making and serving these same things that it seems limited because we are bored of them.

I don't think your list is bad. I've just made one and it's about the same. My son also never eats a roast dinner.

Not at all

Thanks. I think in my heart I know he's fine for his age. I'm sure you know the disheartening feeling when they refuse your cooking though

Everything is a stage. My youngest just now is so difficult. Christmas dinner she had raw carrot and a sausage.

It was ridiculous.

That looks a fantastic range and lots to work with.

For example, could you make pizza together. Even on toast.

Pasta?

Like add a little something new to the existing likes. If it really bothers you.

But I would absolutely take that

Yes I think it's the relentless serving up the same list of food that becomes a grind. But as long as he's happy and healthy I should give myself a shake and get on with it.

I do sometimes worry that I'm not deviating from the list enough because it's easy. I try to put new foods out alongside the old standards but life is busy and I often default to what I know he'll eat.

There are certain foods he seems to like the idea of (usually because he's seen them in books!) but then we make it and he won't eat it

Pizza, pasta and hard boiled eggs are some examples. Even if he's involved with cooking. He's very excited about it then won't touch it. I feel like I'm living with a strange little being from another planet.

My toddler goes through phases where she eats Cheerios, plain pasta, frozen peas and broad beans and chicken and nothing else. Averaging 1 meal a day

If you are having a good week try testing a new food but I wouldn't worry too much. Kids don't get bored in the same way as adults do and the soup gives routes for sneaky veg

Thanks

I did read somewhere that said they don't yet have the years of a memory bank of food that we do. So it takes a long time for them to try things and add them to their little menu. Makes sense. But I also want to scream "you don't know what you're missing out on!"

There is a lot of processed food, high salt and complete lack of veg.

Ah. Oh well, thought I was doing not bad there.

He is not eating vegetables and that doesn’t concern you? Why are you not giving fresh fish like cod or salmon instead of fish fingers? Or cook unprocessed meats? Halloumi for example is far too salty for a toddler. Do you make the soups or are they ready made too? i have a difficult toddler too, I know it’s tough but your kid’s diet is full of processed food.
Does he eat eggs? You could make omelettes with spinach and cheese or savoury muffins for example.

Breadcrumbs are your friend here OP if he already eats a lot of breaded things. You can extend the fish, by breadcrumbing chunks of salmon, for example. You can mash your own potato, adding other veg, and breadcrumb that to make a sort of veggie nugget. It's about starting from something familiar and then extending it out.

Do you make the soups yourself, can you blitz and hide veggies in them?

Otherwise the main advice is the thing you already know - keep offering new things, I know its a pita but its the only way. I used to work to a ratio of two safe foods to one new food every meal, god the waste! But it did mean that some new stuff got introduced.

My DS is 18 now and will accept a safe food like spag bog, but the sauce can be made in different ways with different ingredients. He has ASD and eating has been a wild journey!

I think it’s a good variety but does include a lot of processed foods - fries, nuggets, fish fingers, haggis, sausages.
I would be happy with the range but want to change it to include more natural foods

I'd try and extend out from what he's eating.
So for example - he'll eat chicken soup, how about if you made one with pearl barley and a bit of shredded chicken in it? A Yorkshire pudding is quite similar to a pancake.
Grated apple in the porridge, a few chunks of melon with the strawberries, you get the idea.

Why do you think that
a) I'm not concerned
b) I haven't ever offered him fresh fish or vegetables
c) That I created this menu for him?

These aren't my food choices, they're his. Feta and Halloumi are on his list of foods he eats because we expose him to a lot of foods and he likes these. Why would I stop him ever eating them when he already has a limited range of foods he likes. To only ever give him cheddar is counter-productive to a helping a fussy child.

Many foods are put in front of him. He gets whatever we are eating for dinner most nights. That's often salmon by the way as we enjoy it so much we eat it twice a week in different meals.

I follow the recommendation to put down 80% a "safe" food and 20% "new" food. So he is often given some flakes of salmon, broccoli, potatoes, rice etc, alongside something else we know he'll eat. He always leaves them.

I've read that if you keep doing this with fussy kids and don't pressure them, one day they'll try it.

This Christmas he tried olives and didn't like them. But he really tried with no pressure. Today he ate a bowl of lentil soup at his gran's house which he's never eaten before.

Tonight I made it with rice and he's refused to eat it. We're leaving it a little while to see if he'll try again.

I would like to as well but can't force him to eat it. Thankfully the sweet potato fries are literally baked sweet potato strips.

Some people seemed to think this was not a bad list for a fussy child. Some think I'm doing a dreadful job it seems. It's quite disheartening.

Off to try him with the chicken soup again now.

Thanks I will try more of this. We do a chia seed/flax seed mix in porridge for this reason. Will try to add even more to soups

@SoSad44 you've obviously not had a fussy eater have you? You do know most parents try to give their children vegetables but if they won't eat them, you can't force them too.

@Cosyanddozy my son was under a dietician as a toddler and he ate nowhere near the variety that your little one does. The dietician was mostly concerned that he ate least ate something. I wouldn't worry too much, his eating habits will keep changing as he grows. The most important thing Id say is not to make food an issue and just keep doing what you are doing.

Fair enough, all you can do is keep plugging away.
I only suggest this as I don't think it's obvious if you don't use them -frozen berries when you defrost them have quite a different texture, squishy and jammy. Might be worth trying some in a separate bowl to see if he'll tolerate it, he might if he likes jam.
I'm a weirdo who likes a cooked apple but not a raw one so sometimes different forms work.

Fwiw I don't think your doing a dreadful job, I think he's being fussy so and so and hopefully the list will expand slowly...

Thank you. It's hard not to get stressed or to show that stress to him, and I swing back and forth between "this is awful, his diet is so limited" and "I know for a fact there are far worse eaters, he's doing ok." Nursery have told me they think he's doing great so I need to remember that.

He tried two spoonfuls of his soup and then got quite upset saying "have a sore tummy" meaning he's hungry. He's having buttered toast and yoghurt with banana now with his dad and I'm in the other room having a wee cry.